. >> with just 27 days to go, republicans are not talking with the obama administration and the president is only talking on tv. major garrett is at the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, charlie and norah. yesterday at the white house there were vague references to conversations about the the fiscal cliff with congress iion republicans. i can confirm this morning through my sources here at the white house and on capitol hill that there were no substantive conversations or negotiations yesterday at all. no formal e-mails, to conversations, nothing. house speaker boehner's countdown led to the lighting of the capitol hill christmas tree last night. >> three, two, one. >> reporter: but washington is counting down this month to the dark unknown of the fiscal cliff. >> thanks for having me. >> reporter: on his first view sbr interview on the fiscal cliff, he rejected john boehner's proposal. >> unfortunately the speaker's proposal is out of balance. >> reporter: raising taxes on households earning more than $250,000. >> we'll have to see the rates on the top 2% go up. we're